DURHAM — The RENEW Initiative for Youth and Community, a program of the Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire that provides school-to-career transition planning for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, was named to the Social Impact 100 (S&I 100) of the Social Impact Exchange.

Modeled on aspects of the S&P 500, the S&I 100 is the first-ever broad index of U.S. nonprofits with proof of results, aggregating top-performing, evidence-based nonprofits so that funders can have confidence that they are contributing to organizations that consistently deliver impact.

RENEW, nominated for the S&I 100 by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, joins Manchester-based More Than Wheels as one of just two New Hampshire-based nonprofits to make the list. It includes high-profile national organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, City Year, and Teach for America. The complete list is at www.SI100.org.

“We are very honored that RENEW has been recognized as an important intervention, and we’re pleased that being included on the S&I 100 will help others recognize the positive impact RENEW has on disadvantaged youth. I am continuously amazed at how young people with emotional and behavioral disorders begin to believe that they can achieve happiness and that they belong as a result of the RENEW process,” RENEW project director Joanne Malloy says.

Developed by IOD staff in 1996, RENEW is a planning model to support youth with emotional and behavioral challenges as they design and pursue a plan to transition from high school to adult life. Used by schools, community mental health centers, and community-based providers, RENEW has substantially increased the high school completion, employment, and post-secondary education participation rates of these vulnerable young people.

The S&I 100 tracks the number of people served across the portfolio of these top nonprofits the same way the S&P 500 tracks the profitability of America’s large-cap companies. Donors are able to give directly to nonprofits in the S&I 100. Major foundations, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and others are supporting the Social Impact Exchange. The Social Impact Exchange is also working with donor advised funds, such as Schwab Charitable, to offer the S&I 100 to their philanthropic clients.

“Right now, donors have no easy way of knowing which nonprofits are truly effective at helping people in need, which means that fewer charitable dollars are going to those programs that can do the most good,” says Alex Rossides, president of the Social Impact Exchange. “The S&I 100 changes that. By taking the guesswork out of giving, the S&I 100 has the potential to transform individual philanthropy the same way the S&P 500 changed investing for individual investors.”

The Social Impact Exchange is a national membership association dedicated to building a capital marketplace that scales high-impact social solutions to improve the lives of millions. The Exchange creates the conditions for breakthroughs to go big in order to deliver impact where it is needed most. Together, Exchange members are making it easier for philanthropic giving to achieve major positive change by supporting strategies that improve lives and change systems. By creating standards to evaluate impact, identifying and tracking highly effective nonprofits, and fostering significant collaborative funding to scale up top social interventions, the Exchange helps foundations, donors, business, and government increase the power of giving to achieve greater social good. To learn more, visit www.socialimpactexchange.org.

The Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. Its mission is to strengthen communities to ensure full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons. Learn more at www.iod.unh.edu.